Starbucks offers free coffee to urge end to shutdown stalemate

Starbucks offers free coffee amid government shutdown

Starbucks is offering a free tall cup of coffee to any patron who also buys a drink for someone else. The Seattle-based chain is hoping to set an example for Washington as the government shutdown continues in its second week.

Starbucks is offering a free tall cup of coffee to any patron who also buys a drink for someone else. The Seattle-based chain is hoping to set an example for Washington as the government shutdown continues in its second week.

As the company explains on its website and in several full-page newspaper ads, “in times like these, a small act of generosity and civility can make a big difference.”

Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ chief executive, delved further into the rationale in a message Tuesday to employees. He described the government shutdown, the pending debt-ceiling crisis, waning consumer confidence and general unease as sparking a “seemingly unending cycle of dysfunction and doubt.”

He said the promotion was an opportunity “not to be bystanders” and would let customers “pay it forward.”

“Please join me in helping our customers Come Together to support and connect with one another, even as we wait for our elected officials to do the same for our country,” he wrote.

Schultz and his company have been increasingly vocal about a range of political issues.

Last month, customers were asked not to bring guns into cafes. Earlier this year, they were asked not to smoke within a certain perimeter of stores.

In 2011, Schultz urged the American business community to help quell bickering on Capitol Hill by boycotting campaign contributions before the national elections. A year later, Starbucks issued a new line of merchandise to raise money for its Create Jobs for USA fund.

Starbucks Corp. is following other mega-chains such as McDonald’s Corp. and Panera Bread Co. by voluntarily posting calorie counts on its menu boards nationwide ahead of a pending federal requirement to do so.

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